XXVI 

 A BIRCH-BARK CANOE TRIP 



ON the morning of August 20, a morning that broke brightly 

 over the Nepisiquit Bay after two days of mist and ruin 

 I found myself bidding good-bye to our well-fed host at the Wilbu, 

 Hotel, Bathurst, New Brunswick. Seated on an express wagoi 

 piled up with boxes and bags, and bristling with guns and rods 

 with two Indians perched on precarious eminences of the motley 

 pile, we waved our farewells. A pair of weedy colts, better up t< 

 their work than their appearance promised, bowled us swifth 

 over the rough road, past farms and bits of uncleared forest, j 

 distance of some nine miles, to the Papineau Falls, on the Nepisiqui 

 River, above which our canoe White Heather, awaited us. 



The falls presented a very fine spectacle, the river pouring 

 itself over a ledge of granite, and where it has receded leaving 

 curious traces of water sculpture, such as circular basins in thi 

 solid rock with the round stones still remaining, the gyrations o 

 which had scooped the ' pot-holes ', so called. Here we left ou 

 wagon, which was to proceed along the rough lumber track 01 

 the river's eastern bank, to join us some sixteen miles above, a 

 the Grand Falls, and this, therefore, will virtually be the start im 

 point of the expedition. 



The muscular arms of my two Indians, Joe and Peter, swiftly 

 forced the light canoe against the rapid current, and having 

 permit to fish as I moved along, I willingly rested them at thi 

 principal salmon pools. 



The first notable pool is Gordon Meadow Brook, named ii 

 honour of a former Governor of New Brunswick, famed for hi: 

 sporting proclivities. Here the river is wide and shallow, bu 

 the mouth of a tributary stream invariably has a great fascin.it mi 

 for the Salmonidae, and this proves no exception. 



A beautiful pool just beyond, where some immense masses o 

 rocks overlook a lake-like expanse of the river, is noted ;is tin 

 place where a gentleman of St. John encamped with his \vh<>l< 

 family, after being burned out of house and home by the grea 

 fire. As we passed a brood o % f young shield ducks were driving 

 and disporting in a very lively fashion. 



